Sunday, March 08, 2009

Trade in your mowers for goats?

If this trend catches on you might want to consider trading in your zero-turns. You won’t need so many employees either, other than a veterinarian and some experienced shepherds, which is going to make for some very curious want ads — not to mention job interviews.

The city of San Jose, CA, is using goats and sheep to control the weeds and vegetation at the San Jose/Santa Clara Water Pollution Control Plant and other sites in and around the city, about 400 acres in all. This is the third year the city has brought in the animals, which apparently do a good job of keeping vegetation in check and ridding city property of nasty weeds, such as thistle and poison ivy.

In February the city brought in 600 animals, and expected to “employ” at least that many more as the season progressed, maybe as many as 100 goats and 1,000 sheep.

The animals come from Living Systems Land Management, San Francisco, but they don’t come cheap. The process reportedly costs about $87 an acre, reports the local CBS affiliate.

1 comment:

Sunshine Grounds Care said...

I imagine it would be quite a surprise for the customer if a company went from lawn tractors to goats without warning. Interesting idea though.